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About this blog

Mostly Atari-related projects, and other ramblings. Home of the Artie the Atari comic strip.

Entries in this blog

 

Star Wars Episode VII: (Insert subtitle here)

So... it's been confirmed that J.J. Abrams will be directing the next Star Wars film.   The director of the new Star Trek films, will be directing the new Star Wars films.   Two nerd-worlds collide. I wonder if the internet will survive?   "It was as if millions of nerds suddenly cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened."   Now, I didn't think Star Trek was all that bad when I saw it the first time. Preposterous, yes. Ridiculous, yes. Utterl
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

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New old music - part 11: "The Wrecking Crew"

This is part movie review, and part music review. Because it's a review of a movie about music. A few years ago, I'd heard there was a documentary in the works about The Wrecking Crew. I waited years for it to get released, as it was hung up in trying to get the rights for all of the music it contained. But finally, a successful Kickstarter campaign pushed it over the top, and last year it finally got released. This may not mean much to most people, since they don't know what The Wrecking C
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

1
 

Another small diversion

More fun with really tiny arcade games... Super Impulse just released Galaga, Dig Dug and Frogger, as part of their Tiny Arcade series. I have the first four and really liked them, so as soon as these showed up on Amazon, I grabbed them. I suppose if I would've waited, the price would've dropped. But I've been bitten by the collector bug with these. Can you blame me? Check this out: Seven classic arcade cabinets, all in a space only 11 1/2" wide. And no refrigerator dolly needed. A
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

1
 

Homebreviews - part 31

Adventure! Excitement! A Jedi craves not these things. Well, their loss! Because they're missing out on two excellent, yet very different adventure games for the 2600. Cave In 5/5 In Cave In, you take on the role of an adventurer/archaeologist in search of an ancient artifact. But finding it does you no good if you can't get it back out of the cave which has collapsed around you, threatening to trap you forever. When I started playing Cave In for this review, I must admit to some frustra
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

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Good riddance to bad rubbish... Bonus Round

Citibank.   Need I say more?   Well, I'll say a little more.   Several weeks ago, I got a letter from them, saying that my (formerly free) checking would now be incurring a $15/month fee.   Unless I kept a balance of $6000 in the account.   Six-grand.   In a non-interest-earning account.   Ummm.... no.   So I planned to bail on Citibank, and instead get a checking account through my credit union, which not only doesn't charge fees, but also pays interest.   Then a little while
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

1
 

What's this? A short blog entry?

A few quick things (well... quick to type them up anyway): The RPS label is done! Billy really liked the final artwork, and plans to get back to working on the game soon. As a side note, Billy also had me create some new sprites for the game. So I'm anxious to see how they work out. Speaking of sprites, the next 2600 project I need to work on are some sprites for Manuel's port of Colony 7. (Thought I forgot, didn't you Manuel?) After that, I'll be coloring Jess Ragan's artwork for
Guest

Guest

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Temporary title

In case you're wondering.... I started writing this a couple of weeks ago under the title: "Temporary title". I got used to it, and don't feel like coming up with something else. Every year around this time, for the past... well, it's been awhile, and I'm too lazy to look through my old blog posts... we'll just say several years, I've posted a recap of the Character Animation shows I edit together as part of my job at CalArts. Some random website thinks we're one of the best animation sch
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

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George ! ! !

So, it turns out that George Lucas has decided to release the original versions of the Star Wars Trilogy after all.   Now, this is very cool news, because I'm a fan of the original Star Wars.   "Episode IV - A New Hope"? Phooey! Ever since I first saw that appear in the opening crawl in 1981 it's looked out-of-place to me.   The original "Star Wars" opening crawl synced better with the opening music, and well... it was Star Wars! The movie I grew up with, having seen it a dozen times durin
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

1
 

Free cartoons!

This years' showcase of student films from where I work has just been posted on our school's website.   This is about 2 hours and 15 minutes (2 hours, 43 minutes Canadian) of the best films from the Character Animation program, as selected by our faculty. The entire Character Animation student show (which is not online) ran a whopping 7 hours 30 minutes this year. While there were some films that I think should've make it into the showcase that didn't, I think this is a pretty good representat
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

1
 

Homebreviews - part 36

I had one more game that came in after the last batch...     Incoming! 4/5   Incoming! is a 2600 port of the classic computer game Artillery. You and another tank face off against each other across a variety of terrains. Factoring in wind, the angle of your shot, and how much power to use, you take turns firing at each other. The first one to hit the other tank a given number of times, wins.   While there's already a similar 2600 game called Artillery Duel (by Xonox), Incoming! literal
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

1
 

Making Labels - Part 2

Last time we worked on the line art. Getting the line art cleaned up means that when you add color, you won't have to waste a lot of time working around smudges or broken lines. So with that done, it's time for...     Part 2 - Coloring   I use Photoshop for coloring almost everything, but many paint programs share some of the same features. There are a few key things that will make coloring much, much easier.     Layers   Using layers allows you to add color without affecting your line
Guest

Guest

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Weeks have "ends"?

Looks like I'm going to be keeping busy for awhile.In addition to working on the Solar Plexus artwork (which now has the shading done) and the accompanying tutorial (which is taking more time than the actual artwork), I've also got another couple of projects just handed to me:One is the manual for RPS. I haven't done a 2600 manual before, but my background was originally in graphic design, so I'm looking forward to it. I've got a couple of ideas for it I'd like to try, and it will be nice to hav
Guest

Guest

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New old music - parts 6 & 7

Hey, hey - it's two-fer-one!   I've admitted before to being a fan of The Monkees. After Davy Jones' passing, the three remaining ex-Monkees got together and did a concert tour. Now, I didn't go and see them, since I had a hard time justifying the expense. Good tickets were crazy-expensive, and frankly, reunion concerts more often than not leave something to be desired. I'm more interested in new work, than hearing old work endlessly trotted out.   To that end, Michael Nesmith has had an ext
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

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Somewhat less blingy

About a year-and-a-half ago, I posted about a couple of Lynx upgrades I bought - McWill's excellent replacement screen, and SainT's Micro SD multicart. When repairing my 2600 last year, I ordered a bunch of parts from Best Electronics - chips, joystick repair kits, and so on. Also, I added one of their Lynx replacement speakers. Now - my speaker actually worked, but for $12.50, I thought maybe the upgrade would be worth it. But it just sat in the box, waiting for me to get around to it. Sinc
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

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The inevitable reference

Stay tuned for the senses-shattering conclusion to "Sweeps Week" in Artie's first-ever Sunday Spectacular!!     That would be on Sunday.   In case you were wondering.   51 < PreviousIndexNext >
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

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The death of "Cartoon Brew"

Let's see, what bad things have happened in animation recently?   Well, DreamWorks is reportedly laying off 20 - 25% of their employees.   Rhythm & Hues is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.   And the website Cartoon Brew is dead.   Where did I read about all of these? Why, Cartoon Brew, of course!   Cartoon Brew has been, for better or worse, a central source of animation-related news and opinion for the last nine years.   Co-founded by animation historian and author Jerry Beck a
Nathan Strum

Nathan Strum

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